Dorchester Community Nursery School
Good★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Dorchester for children from birth to 5, open 08:30 to 15:30, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in November 2021. Open since 1993, with 32 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
What childcare usually costs in Dorset
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Dorset from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
DT1 1QAWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 25 November 2021 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children enter the setting eagerly and are very much valued and welcomed by the caring, friendly staff. Children behave extremely well and staff have high expectations of them. Staff skilfully help children to play together happily. They provide a broad curriculum that supports children to make good progress. They enable children to follow their interests and develop positive attitudes to learning through their play. For example, children listen attentively to a story about a penguin. They talk with staff about countries where penguins live and the weather is cold. Children like to sort and match objects. They concentrate well and start to develop sequencing skills, for example, when alternating green and blue toy penguins in a line to make a colourful pattern. Children show great interest in farms. They had fun playing in the outdoor farmyard role play area, where they helped to rake up the hay and explored heads of wheat and barley. Staff have changed the arrival and collection arrangements to keep children safe as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They greet children at the main entrance and are proactive in their partnership with parents to keep them well-informed about their children's activities and learning.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- allow children time to process their thoughts and respond and express their ideas n make more use of opportunities for children to understand about linking numerals to quantity to develop their mathematical awareness even further.
- 25 November 2021Good
- 4 November 2015Good
- 27 February 2009Outstanding
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Dorchester Community Nursery School
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- Youngest age taken
- Meals
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.